It's Time to Design Transportation for the Community We Are Today

How Do We Achieve Roadways and Transit Policies that Improve Human Behavior and Avert Tragedies?

That is the question Teton County should be asking after the July 7 tragedy on Teton Pass.

The crash was the latest, and a most heartbreaking, reminder that our transportation system is under stress. More residents. More commuters. More visitors. More heavy trucks. More people walking, biking, and using pathways. More competing demands on infrastructure that was designed in a different era and a different community, today’s transportation pressures are exposing the limits of yesterday’s assumptions.

Two weeks ago, Bob Culver argued in a News & Guide Guest Shot there is not much we can do. Mountain roads are steep. Drivers make mistakes. Physics wins. 

That’s exactly why better transportation policy and road design matters. Do we continue building simplistic roads that assume ideal human behavior, or do we design roads and transportation systems that anticipate mistakes, reduce the likelihood that they become extraordinary tragedies, and improve the safety of drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists, and the efficiency of transit?

A modern Teton County transportation system has to do much more than move automobiles rapidly.

It can and should move people safely, regardless of how they choose to travel. It can and should protect wildlife movement, wetlands, and water quality. It can and should support pathways and other recreational assets, transit, and local businesses. It can and should serve residents, commuters, visitors, and first responders. And it can and should enhance, not diminish, the character of our community.

For decades, our underlying policy and default response to traffic congestion has been to observe demand, then build more roads and more lanes of traffic to exceed that demand and then in turn demand quickly catches up again and congestion returns. It’s called induced demand. 

Transportation research has consistently shown that widening highways alone restores congestion over time while creating new impacts on neighboring communities and natural resources. 

We can see the results on Highway 89. After years of planning and approximately $130 million in investment, we built a wider, faster corridor designed primarily to move more vehicles. While that project addressed important operational and safety needs, it also demonstrates the limits of relying primarily on expanding road capacity to keep pace with growing demand.

But, we are in luck: there is more than this antiquated approach (which is proven to fail in the long term) to improve traffic flow, because transportation infrastructure doesn’t simply respond to behavior. It influences it. When we make driving the most convenient option, we shouldn’t be surprised that’s the option most people choose.

Today’s challenges require a more balanced and comprehensive transportation philosophy.

That means using technology to improve traffic flow in real time before adding pavement. It means targeted engineering improvements at high-risk intersections. It means stronger commercial vehicle enforcement and truck safety measures where they’re needed most. It means investing in transit, pathways, and safe bicycle connections so driving isn’t the only practical option for every trip. It means rethinking the subsidy inherent in “free” parking downtown. 

Fortunately, Highway 22 presents a prime opportunity to think and act differently.

As WYDOT considers the future of this corridor, we can rely on yesterday’s transportation approach —measuring success primarily by how many vehicles we move until the original congestion problem reappears at Albertson’s rather than Spring Gulch Road — or to build a transportation system designed for today’s realities and tomorrow’s opportunities.

That means taking an incremental and evidence-based approach to improving problem intersections such as Spring Gulch Road and Highway 22, and dangerous ones like Coyote Canyon Road in front of Teton Science Schools. Expanding commuter transit and high-occupancy vehicle options. Continuing to invest in pathways that serve both transportation and recreation. Protecting wildlife movement, wetlands, and scenic character as essential parts of the transportation system—not afterthoughts.

Ultimately, transportation policy isn’t measured by how many vehicles we move through an intersection or over a mountain pass. It’s measured by how many people make it home safely.

Last month, our community senselessly lost David Page and Nick Besobrasow in a tragic crash on Teton Pass. I had the privilege to work with, ski with, and ride dirt with David over the years. He was a talented and thoughtful leader, a gifted writer, a passionate advocate for public lands, and above all a devoted husband, father, and friend. Like so many throughout this valley, I am heartbroken for his wife and boys, as well as for Nick’s family, and everyone whose lives were forever diminished that day.

No transportation system can prevent every tragedy. But tragedies must challenge us to ask whether we are doing everything we can to make our roads safer, and to employ modern research and technology to make our roads more efficient for the long run, not just create a blank slate to fill up with cars. 

On August 3, community members will gather at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse to discuss the future of transportation safety on Teton Pass and Highway 22. I hope you’ll join us.

–Luther